Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a hatchling two days ago and all he has done is sleep.
Is this normal?
And i was told to let him get acustomed to his new tank for about two to three weeks.

Thanks for all the help

Brandon

It depends on the context of both the experience of the keeper and the conditions envolved.

If your new and your conditions are substandard, then the hatchling may die while your waiting. Under proper conditions, a new captive hatched monitor will eat, thrive and be active, from the hour it arrives. That is, if your conditions are good and shipping was good and of course the monitor was healthy when shipped. Anything other then that, tells you something happened.

The olde let it acclimate deal is really based on WC monitors that have to relearn everything they know. CH have never been or seen the wild, therefore, that is not the concern.

What is a concern is the new conditions are similiar to its old conditions, remember, thats all this captive hatched monitor knew. Its life is based on what it knows(unlike us)

You should have done research beforehand. Mainly asking the person you get it from, what their conditions were. Your best bet, would be to copy that. You can always change it later to match your wants and needs, once the monitor is thriving.

My advice is to check your conditions. Make sure your in the ballpark, then judge if the monitor is healthy(you can always take it to a vet) Then exercise patience and luck. FR

I have never understood what wait meant with newborn monitors.

i don't wait, i set up their cage properly from day one.

the first question i would ask is how you have your 40 gallon breeder tank setup?

secondly, what size is your sav?

if it is 4 inches or so i would feed it crickets dusted with minerall and pinky mice dusted as well.

i would if you don't already, i would go to home depot and have them cut a piec of plexi glass the exact size as the top of the inset of the breeder tank. i would then splice a bulb or two into the top of the left or right hand side of it and either drill a bunch of holes into the right hand side of the plexi or put a vent into it. if that is too much to do in the next couple of days, simply put two bulbs on one side of the screen and place a board on over the rest of the screen.

i would go out and dig up some good dirt without too many rocks and give him some hides.

i use many things for hides. i use flower pots, bell pipe that i sink into the dirt, boards, etc. i would give him hides on the cool end and the hot end.

i would check my temps accurately. if you don't get a temp gun asap, i am assuming you don't have one. depending on the temp of the room i would probably put two 40 watt bulbs on the hot end. if it is small you could get away with one 60 watt.

lots o' work

the taming issue you mentioned below is entirely up to you. if that is what you meant by waiting, then yes i would wait to do so until it is eating and thriving. savs eat alot, but when it starts to eat get it up to the point where its tail has some good meat to it, its hind legs feel meaty, there are no visible tail bones. but don't overfeed it to the point where its scales are very small. from what i am told a healthy wild sav is not obeise and digs easily.

i assume the pet shop told you all of this, lol

andrew

First my savannah is only 4 inches.
Now at 4 inches its ok to feed pickies?
I was useing dirt but change to desert blend should i go back?
Can i get a picture of the top of your tank?
In my tank for the ground i use desert blend, about six hides three on the cool side and three on the hot.
Now on the taming i don't want to wait a few weeks but i was told that was best.

Thanks for the help

Brandon

Yes, even at 4 inches you can offer pinkies. If he wants it, he will eat it. If not, he will not. I offer all my hatchlings (salvators) pinkies within a week of their birth. I also offer crickets at the same time. When they are larger, I switch to an almost exclusively rodent diet. I have raised several savannahs in a very similar manner.

Savannahs are not desert animals, they are arid grassland animals. In the beginning,I used sand for savannah monitors for well over a year. It was not a great substrate. It was really dusty and messy. I have since used dirt and/or cypress mulch. I personally prefer a cypress and dirt mix for my animals, although my present savannahs are on a straight mulch substrate.
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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^

The problem w/ just sand is its like digging in ballbearings. All the small particles are round, when dug in it will flow almost like water, especialy when dry. I would mix in an equal amount of the dirt you had with the sand. Add some water, so you get a moist substrate. The moisture in the substrate will help form the burrow and raise the humidity which helps the sheeding process. Follow the advice of the other posters and there should be no problems. Oh ya, get a temp gun. Goodluck, Clint

clint, for some monitors sand is fine. my pils are on a mostly sand substrate and they do great. savs are just not from an area where sand makes up most of the substrate and nesting.

damn, i miss savs to tell the truth, it would be fun to get a couple again. the problem is that my sav male was about the whitest i have seen and had reddish brown ocelli, gorgeous animal.

andrew

I'm no expert, but I would say the sand he is currently using is really fine and not very conducive to burrowing, once mixed with some soil it would suffice well. I have my ackies on a granite sand which is very angular in composition, in other words it compacts well enableing it to hold a burrow well. It also holds moisture giving me humidity levels of 45%-65% depending on where the hygrometer is placed. If they are not sheeding well I add water to the sand raising the humidity, i have not had problems with stuck sheds as of yet. What kind of sand are you using?? Does it hold burrows well, do your Pils burrow? Later, Clint

pils and kimberlys are not big burrowers, atleast not in my limited experience with them. the females only dig when it comes time to lay. but the pils do some digging and they have been able to dig burrows fine.

you are right though, not all sand is the same.

andrew

The two enclosures on the bottom house the savannahs. I'm not saying my setup is good or anything. Its just a picture.

The bottom image is the cage I built first. What it does do well is hold humidity and heat, it does have dirt in it, but not enough for the savannah to burrow under. It is escape proof, for a savannah.

The second cage, can hold much more dirt, and does a good job keeping the savannah in and seems to work okay however the shelf hasn't been used by the monitor so I'll have to rework it. I think it looks neat painted blue underneath the shelf, it really darkens that section of the cage and I think the sav feels more comfortable being hidden. The door is on the right hand side.

I didn't build the top cage, it still needs work, but there is a freckled monitor in there. He seems pretty happy, he's about 5 and that's the cage he's had the entire time. (I've only owned him a few months).

So there ya go hopefully that is somewhat helpful. I'm not saying I'm the greatest keeper or anything, but my animals are alive, and the vet says they are healthy. Good luck, the advice you're being given is on the right track.

The same image on the webpage.

How well does that drainage tube work for your monitors. I have had my eye on that stuff for awhile, but i was thinking it was a little slippery being plastic. In the horizontal position I could see it working, but how does it work for your freckled in the vertical orientation.. Just curious, let me know. Thanx, Clint

i picked up bell piping at home depot, i picked up 3 10 foot pieces for like 12 bucks total.

in my kimberly cage i have it from the hot end all the way to near the bottom of the substrate on the cool end. it has created a great thurmo gradient hide. my ackies, argus and goulds and pils all seem to use it a lot too in a similar manner.

andrew

Works great. Its too big as a hide though, he loves to use it to get up to the higher basking spots. He just zips up the tube. He grips it no problem. Works well as burrow openings as well. Its not tight enough for a hide though.

np

must be fun having to change your name because you got kicked off the forum.

ratzu? never heard of him.
Sounds like a great guy though

pics of my cages: most of mine are front opening large cages with plexi glass.

4 inches: feed rodents and crickets (dusted)

taming: its your call. i don't do it, but do as you wish.

the pic below will give you an idea of what i use for basking spots and what dirt is supposed to look like in your cage.
the problems with screen tops are many unless of course you live in florida. one of them is very dry dirt, you don't want it wet or even very humid but you want it to clump at the same time.

andrew

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